


indrenata

by AllegoriesInMediasRes



Series: Ramayana fics [27]
Category: Ramayana - Valmiki
Genre: Canon Compliant, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, Hair Washing, Missing Scene, Oneshot, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:41:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25118542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllegoriesInMediasRes/pseuds/AllegoriesInMediasRes
Summary: Sita kneels on the riverbank and drapes her hair over one shoulder, her saffronpalludiscarded nearby. Rama cannot help but admire the sinuous curve of her back as she bends forward, the shimmering curtain of her hair as she dips it into the water.indrenata (Sanskrit): naturally curved
Relationships: Lakshmana/Urmila (Ramayana), Rama/Sita (Ramayana)
Series: Ramayana fics [27]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1105638
Comments: 7
Kudos: 13





	indrenata

Sita kneels on the riverbank and drapes her hair over one shoulder, her saffron _pallu_ discarded nearby. Rama cannot help but admire the sinuous curve of her back as she bends forward, the shimmering curtain of her hair as she dips it into the water. A bar of soap she made herself sits nearby at hand. He works it into a lather in his hands and then rubs it into her strands. 

Sita sighs as he cups his hands and pours water over her head to rinse away the foam. Her eyes are closed, her _swami_ ’s fingers gently massage her scalp, and the birds chatter with the babbling brook. They could stay like this forever. Later that evening, Rama is still running his fingers through her tresses. It is always thicker when it is freshly dry, and they fall asleep like that, her curled into him, him with one hand idly twined into her hair.

Neither notices Lakshmana. He keeps his nightly watch on the porch, but at periodic intervals, he will twist to steal glances at the hut behind him before quickly turning away. The sight leaves him with a queer feeling that stings behind his eyes and tightens his throat. He adheres to a servant’s _dharma_ as stridently as his brother does to a son’s _dharma_ ; he has withstood the hardships of forest life and defeated a phalanx of sneering rakshasas. Yet this one glimpse unmans him as nothing else has.

He never misses Urmila so much as he does in these moments, and in these moments, this is what he takes comfort in: the lack of grittiness in his eyes and the clarity of his mind, despite the late hour. This is what he has of her, the fruits of her sacrifice. Urmila has given up fourteen years of her life to serve the elder siblings they both revere, and he cannot shame her by doing anything else. It matters not that he bears daily witness to what it is to have the utter devotion of another; it matters only that this shall have to be enough.


End file.
